Disa aconitoides subsp. aconitoides flower

Disa flowers are resupinate, i.e. twisted around as they open, the dorsal or median sepal positioned at the top of the flower after the twist, the lip at the bottom. The flower of Disa aconitoides subsp. aconitoides has a helmet-shaped median sepal or hood at the top, tapering into its large, laterally flattened spur.

The broad lateral sepals, cells glistening upon their surfaces in the photo, are obliquely oblong and spreading downwards, flanking the narrowly elliptic lip that points down. Below the angled down sepal on the right in picture the reflexed upper part of the bract that covers the ovary in green below has its brown tip bent outwards.

The lip’s upper surface is rounded with tiny papillae and some bluish colouring upon it in the picture. The small petals, positioned largely inside the median sepal as part of the hood are erect, somewhat oblique and sickle-shaped with small lower lobes, facing inwards.

Flowering happens from midspring to midsummer (Liltved and Johnson, 2012; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; iSpot).